Glossary of Key Terms
This glossary provides definitions for important terms used throughout The Open Path - Global Flourishing Initiative. These definitions aim to create a shared understanding while acknowledging that many of these concepts have nuanced meanings across different traditions and disciplines.
A
Adaptation: The process by which organisms or systems change in response to their environment to better survive and function.
Awareness: The capacity to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. In contemplative contexts, it refers to the fundamental quality of consciousness that allows for the recognition of experience.
Attachment: In developmental psychology, the emotional bond between an infant and their primary caregivers that provides the foundation for emotional development and relationships throughout life.
Agroecology: The application of ecological principles to agricultural systems and practices, often with a focus on sustainability and local knowledge.
B
Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem, including diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.
Bioregion: A geographic area defined by natural boundaries such as watersheds, mountain ranges, or ecosystems rather than political boundaries.
Biophilia: The innate human tendency to connect with nature and other living beings, proposed by E.O. Wilson.
C
Compassion: The feeling that arises when witnessing another's suffering and being motivated to help alleviate that suffering. Self-compassion extends this same quality toward oneself.
Contemplative Practice: Structured activities that focus attention and awareness to foster greater connection, clarity, and depth of experience. Examples include meditation, prayer, and mindful movement.
Carrying Capacity: The maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely given available resources.
Circular Economy: An economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources through reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.
Community Resilience: The sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.
D
Dukkha: A Pali term often translated as "suffering" or "unsatisfactoriness," referring to the inherent stress and dissatisfaction in an unawakened life.
Distraction: The state of attention being diverted from the intended focus to something else.
Developmental Window: A period during development when specific experiences have particularly strong and lasting effects on the brain and behavior.
Degrowth: A movement advocating for the downscaling of production and consumption to enhance ecological conditions and human well-being.
E
Equanimity: A state of mental calmness and composure, especially in difficult situations. In contemplative traditions, it refers to an even-minded mental state that is undisturbed by experience.
Ecosystem Services: The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services (food, water), regulating services (climate regulation, disease control), cultural services (spiritual, recreational), and supporting services (nutrient cycling, soil formation).
Ecological Footprint: A measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems, representing the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes.
Epigenetics: The study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself, often influenced by environmental factors.
F
Flourishing: A state of optimal functioning and well-being in which individuals and communities thrive across multiple dimensions: physical, psychological, social, and ecological.
Food Sovereignty: The right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.
Feedback Loop: A process in which the outputs of a system are routed back as inputs, creating a circuit of cause and effect that can either amplify or regulate changes.
G
Global Commons: Natural or cultural resources that extend beyond national boundaries, such as the atmosphere, oceans, and biodiversity.
Generative: Having the ability to produce or create. In sustainability contexts, refers to approaches that restore, renew, or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials.
H
Homeostasis: The tendency of a system, especially the physiological system of higher animals, to maintain internal stability and resist change.
Holistic: Characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can only be understood in relation to the whole.
I
Interbeing: A term coined by Thich Nhat Hanh to describe the interconnectedness of all phenomena, where nothing can exist by itself but only in relation to everything else.
Indigenous Knowledge: The understandings, skills, and philosophies developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings.
Interdependence: The mutual reliance between two or more groups, systems, or individuals.
Intergenerational Equity: The concept that present generations hold the Earth in trust for future generations and have the responsibility to preserve natural and cultural resources for them.
K
Keystone Species: A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance, playing a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community.
L
Loving-kindness: A mental state of unselfish and unconditional kindness to all beings. In Buddhist tradition, it is known as metta.
Local Food System: A collaborative network that integrates sustainable food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management to enhance the environmental, economic, and social health of a particular place.
M
Mindfulness: The quality of being fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of one's thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment without judgment.
Meditation: A practice where an individual uses techniques such as mindfulness or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity to train attention and awareness.
Mutualism: A relationship between two species where both benefit from the association.
Microbiome: The collection of microorganisms that live in and on the human body or in another environment.
N
Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life, allowing the neurons to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or changes in their environment.
Non-duality: The philosophical view that there is no separation between subject and object, self and other, mind and matter.
Natural Capital: The world's stocks of natural assets including geology, soil, air, water, and all living things, which provide humans with ecosystem services.
O
Open-awareness: A form of meditation that involves maintaining an awareness of all that is happening in one's field of experience without focusing on any particular object.
Overshoot: The situation where a population exceeds the long-term carrying capacity of its environment, often leading to resource depletion and population decline.
P
Presence: The state of being fully attentive and engaged in the current moment, without being distracted by past or future concerns.
Permaculture: A design approach based on natural ecosystems that aims to create sustainable human habitats by following nature's patterns.
Planetary Boundaries: A framework that defines a safe operating space for humanity based on the intrinsic biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the Earth system.
Precautionary Principle: The approach that when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.
R
Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. In ecological terms, the ability of an ecosystem to respond to disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly.
Regenerative: Practices that restore, renew, or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature.
Reciprocity: The practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, particularly important in indigenous worldviews regarding human-nature relationships.
S
Self-awareness: Conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
Sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Systems Thinking: A holistic approach to analysis that focuses on how a system's constituent parts interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems.
Secure Attachment: A pattern of attachment in which a child feels confident that their caregiver will be available to meet their needs, providing a secure base from which to explore the world.
Social Capital: The networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively.
T
Trauma: A deeply distressing or disturbing experience that overwhelms an individual's ability to cope, often resulting in lasting negative effects on functioning and well-being.
Tipping Point: The critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings with one another and with their environment.
U
Universal Basic Needs: The fundamental requirements for human well-being, including clean air, water, food, shelter, healthcare, education, and social connection.
V
Vulnerability: The quality of being exposed to the possibility of harm, either physically or emotionally. In the context of human connection, allowing oneself to be genuinely seen by others.
W
Watershed: An area of land that drains all the rainfall and streams into a common outlet such as a river, bay, or ocean.
Well-being: The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy across multiple dimensions, including physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects.
Wisdom: The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships. In contemplative traditions, it often refers to direct insight into the nature of reality.
Notes on Usage
- Terms may have different nuances across cultural contexts and disciplines.
- This glossary will evolve as the project develops and incorporates diverse perspectives.
- Suggestions for additions or refinements are welcome through our contribution process.
"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms." — Socrates